Soap Making
Tubs Of Soap
The snow is falling, though not deep on the ground today. Outside, not only can smell the snow, but cold too has it’s own fragrance. It’s freezing cold out. But I wouldn’t want it any other way… In fact, the better part of 10 years I had it another way…. But there is just something about New England. It is more than just a region. It’s a way of life, a climate, it is what gets inside you, teaches you to be strong…. You can count on an NE winter, in a world in which you can’t count on much. Coming home was rough. I looked out the windows, I recognized Boston, on my way through…. But it looked foreign. Because living in EU, the buildings are colossal and made of stone. Here stylistically compared to there it is like being on a different planet. I am still some years later reaclimating… to the New England way of life.
We leave sample size in our rooms for our guests. This is a warm vanilla fragrance with warm spices. Perfect for some hygge time in the tub! I call this beautiful fragrance Winter.
I will spend a few hours today making the all natural, handmade soaps we leave on the guest beds, and leave in large bars in our bathroom. In the past I have operated in tubs for larger projects…. But since Wildflower, is a new endeavor, I will be doing small batch later and using molds. Later, they will be found on beds as a free gift, and in the gift shop in large size for purchase.
Given the season, I am working on a fragrance I call Winter. I fill Winter, with several natural fragrances, a soothing vanilla, mixes with some warm spices to create our winter fragrance. The idea was to try to fill soap with all the cozy of New England winter.
Winter fragranced soap. Because I am a small farm, I work in tiny batches which sometimes means color isn’t uniform… In this large size we hope to make Winter available soon from our gift shop.
I make my own base out of several oils, goat’s milk, aloe, honey, and vegetable glisterine and few other natural things…. A full list of ingredients is on every bar. It produces a luxurious lather and does a great job of not stripping the dermis of it’s moisture. I developed it specifically like this for just that reason.
Soap, is fun and easy, it can be somewhat time consuming, but I enjoy trying to do more rather than less to make a visit here wonderful and highly unique. The other thing about really any of our farm products, is that they are in part what we rely on so that we can continue the wild adventure that is, Wildflower Farm.
My collection of essential oils. I use them when soap making for natural fragrance. I have many uses for them…. Perhaps in time I will tell you about some of them.
But now I have to fly. Pikku, tells me I need to get ready to brave the cold to take her to play. Then, I can come home, put on christmas music to fill the New England Farm and snow quiet that we sometimes achieve here. A harmonious silence… And the perfect time to make a couple small batches of soap, right in front of the kitchen window…. I will stand looking out, at the goats, and the silent snow swirling, while inside, by my wood stove I mix, and then finally pour my soap then I wait. It is almost a meditation…
There is a quietness of the soul and a peace to be found at times on a farm.
Other times…. It’s hilarity going at a mile a minute.
Sometimes, I find myself just holding on for dear life…
Still at times farming is a challenge.
I love it because like with nature it cycles.
I love it, because it is never exactly the same as the day before.
I love it because it is the home I have chosen to build.
My heart lives in everything that I do, create, survive, enjoy, etc around here.
Thank you for your time.
Amanda of Wildflower Farm
Tags: acreage, agro, B&B, bed and breakfast, christmas gift, christmas gift ideas, farm, farm B&B, farm handmade, farm hygge, farm soap, farm wife, farmer, farming, gift, gifts, goats milk soap, handmade soap, homemade soap, homestead, homestead B&B, homestead farm, homestead soap, homestead wife, homesteaders, homesteading, hot process soap, Hygge, lodging, new england, new england farm, new england homestead, New England Hygge, soap, soap making, wildflower farm, Wildflower farm B&B, Wildflower Farm gift, Winter, winter farm, winter fragrance, winter homestead, Winter Spice
Wildflower Farm, is a small New England homestead, B&B and AirBnB, in the Baystate. We came out here 7 years ago, when we returned from the better part of 10 years as peripatetic aristotelian nomads, for my husband's post docs. Upon our return, we had a plan. We had a lovely home. Everything was so clear. Then, I got sick. Things I used to eat all the time during our travels elsewhere in the world and even here before I left almost 10 years earlier made me ill. It took a couple trips to the ER and a trip to specialist... It became clear, something had changed in the way food is processed in this country since last I lived here. Some off label things was inevitably going to be my demise.
My husband and I looked around to see the clear path we were on, had exploded in front of us. We decided we had to create a new path for ourselves. We put children on hold. We found a small piece of land with a house we loved in a rural suburb in a right to farm area. I began researching how to do it ourselves. Grow it ourselves, make it ourselves, survive on our own as much as possible. We bought the property, and began plotting a new course. One that didn't involve off label chemicals. Closer to nature, with a lot more DIY, gardens, and animals for the products they provide. We created a life we loved though it hasn't always been easy and has of course come with compromise with each other, and even with ourselves.
Our family thought we had lost our minds. What were we doing leaving the city? We had no idea how hard this would be. They thought we would be back in 6 months. That was over 7 years ago, now. We have been making it work. They were not wrong, it isn't easy. But has anything worth doing ever been easy? And for us, avoiding as much store bought food as possible was simply necessary so I could live given how sick I was getting.
Then Covid hit.... We were lucky to have this place. It has allowed us a lot less need for public use territories which has kept us a lot safer and spared us much of the risk others face daily. This place, has given us a privilege through this of great meaning to us. To be of use in a difficult time. We have been able to help friends family and even strangers in need when things couldn't be found on store shelves. Or money was tight due to not working, rent being due and a child at home, or some other draining situation. We are so very grateful to have been able to not be helpless like so much of society through this miserable time. Our families, got used to it some time ago, us being out here. They made peace with it the day there was no bread and they had to ask me for some. Or when fresh vegies were rotten due to supply chain issues but they could find plenty in my garden.
Wildflower Farm, was a place I dreamed of. One of those sweet pastoral dreams a city dweller grows up knowing will never come true, that became unavoidable when I became ill. I never expected to get to do this. I never thought I had what it takes to make this work. I have learned pacing myself is important, compromise is critical, hard work never ends, burn out is real so breaks are just a necessary evil.
We are not fully self sufficient, but we work hard in that direction as we create a new path through life for ourselves, always reaching to do even more ourselves and to get closer to the ideal we envision. We are however far more self sufficient than many in this world. 7 years in, we continue to learn and grow in this homesteading lifestyle. We welcome comments and advice and ideas and questions.
We welcome visitors from all over to our home with strict covid policies in place. We spend our time learning to live all over again in a more environmental and sustainable way though even there we are far from perfect always learning and growing doing better as we know better.
This little homestead farm is a magical place named for the New England wildflowers that grow all around. A place where a physicist, watches the night sky on clear nights with the aide of mirror and glass, and a woman, works endlessly in the gardens, the kitchen, and a variety of projects to create and to keep a very unique life style running and functioning. Wildflower Farm, has become so much more than simply a piece of land we can grow a few vegetables on. The longer I spend here, the more alive the land seems, the more I learn about it's function and the more meaning it has. My place in the universe and the next steps on our new path become ever more clear.
We welcome you on this journey with us.
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